Many pharmaceutical products, pharmaceutical substances or simply pharmaceuticals are processed and/or applied in liquid form. For this, the liquid pharmaceuticals are filled into containers such as in vials, syringes or the like. Also, many pharmaceuticals and particularly biopharmaceuticals which frequently are highly unstable in liquid form are often provided in a lyophilized form in which they are essentially more stable and robust compared to their liquid forms. The lyophilized pharmaceuticals can also be filled and provided in containers. Before being applied to patients, they are reconstituted or solved in a diluent or similar liquid.
For allowing injection such as subcutaneous, intramuscular, intradermal or intravitreal injection of a pharmaceutical product, which often is most efficient and preferred, pharmaceuticals can be provided directly in syringes such as in staked-in needle pre-filled syringes ready for being applied. In cases where lyophilised pharmaceuticals are involved dual chamber syringes are commonly used in which one chamber houses the lyophilised pharmaceutical and the other chamber the diluent. When being applied, an activation rod is pushed into the double chamber syringe in two steps. In a first step, it is pushed far enough for bringing the diluent and pharmaceutical together and in a second step it is completely pushed in order to provide the liquidized or solved pharmaceutical out of the needle.
For closing containers filled with pharmaceuticals, it is known to use rubber plungers. Thereby, a plunger is usually arranged into an opening of a container for sealing it. On an industrial level such plungers usually are automatically pushed or sucked into the openings of the containers after the pharmaceutical is arranged inside the chambers of the containers. Particularly since the containers and the plungers have to be kept uncontaminated, closing the containers is often performed in a sterile environment. However, namely on an industrial level the closing of containers in a sterile manner when preparing the containers comprising the pharmaceutical can be cumbersome and cause an undesirable effort.
In particular, closing containers in the process of preparing lyophilized pharmaceuticals inside the containers can be comparably complicated. Notably, when lyophilized pharmaceuticals are prepared and packaged in dual chamber syringes closing the syringes by providing plungers into their openings within the process of preparing the syringes and the pharmaceuticals can be comparably difficult and causing comparably high costs. However, since the lyophilized pharmaceuticals in double chamber syringes can be comparably simply processed such as transported, stocked, sold, applied and the like, efficient preparation of double chamber syringes is desired.
Therefore, there is a need for a device or system allowing for efficiently closing containers such as double chamber or other syringes within a process of preparing the containers wherein, for example, such process can comprise lyophilisation of a product inside the container.